Customer Reviews

A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl

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4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(2)

 

 

We all know him - that guy who's so incredible looking, so charming, so seductive we can't seem to keep away even when we sense we should. In "A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl", three different high school girls fall for that guy, each making different, life-altering choices about love and sex in the course of her relationship with him. The gentle, plainspoken poetry of this verse novel sneaks up on you and grabs you just when you're not expecting it, much like the "bad boy" of the title manages to surprise both the reader and the three girls - confident girls who are sure they know who they are. Honest and unflinching, deft in its characterizations and familiar to every girl who's ever gotten mixed up with the wrong guy, "Bad Boy"is direct in its portrayal of teen sexuality without ever being tawdry. How Tanya Stone managed to write a book that's both a cautionary tale and a celebration is beyond me, but she has. This is the kind of book one can learn from, the kind of book that reads like the whispers of older, wiser sisters. I recommend it to teen girls and any woman who remembers the pain, confusion and, yes, exhilaration of falling for a "bad" boy.

I finally got to read Tanya Lee Stone's "A Bad Boy can be Good for a Girl". I sure wish it would have been around when I was in high school, there where definitely plenty of bad boys. I just wish I could have been as was as Josie. Besides the fact that it was great writing, the book had an excellent message. Even the girls who made mistakes with the boy where not ridiculed or considered bad and they all learned from the experience. It will definitely be highly recommended by me at school. I have a lot of girls who will love it, and a lot of girls who NEED to read it. It is a must for every high school library, and probably even every jr. high library as well.
I give it a 5 star must have rating.

I had my doubts about reading a novel in free verse. However, while reading the poem/novel, I eventually forgot that it was poetry instead of prose. My eyes began to skim over the weird constructions, much as it would if I was reading one of those forwarded email messages where the formatting is all screwed up. Because the story is SO COMPELLING. The characters are real and sympathetic and their plight is so understandable. You want to scream at them to stop doing what they are doing but not in that "idiot girl in a slasher flick going into the basement in her underwear" way. Because you know it doesn't seem stupid, not in the moment, in their position. And you know it's a mistake, all at the same time. You can understand why they make the choices you do, even as you know what they'll think of them later. It's a very powerful book, and it is one that sticks with you and make you think a lot.

I don't know if I remember a lot of the lines because they were in this "poetry" form or because they were the kind of thing that seem ripped out of the young girls' hearts, all bleeding and pulsating.

Give this book a try.

A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl is only the second verse novel that I've read (after Hugging the Rock by Susan Taylor Brown). And I have to say that if these two books are at all representative, then I'm completely hooked. I love the combination of a fast-paced, streamlined read with wonderful language selection.

I read Bad Boy in one sitting, and didn't want it to end. I read the end material in the book. I read the discussion questions on the handy bookmark that Tanya provided, and I spent time thinking about them. I thought about my own high school experiences. I wondered if Josie, Nicolette, and Aviva would end up becoming friends. I thought of which of them I personally identified with the most. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl is a verse novel told in the distinct voices of three high school girls. Josie is a freshman, smart and confident but (she assures us) not stuck up. Nicolette is a junior, popular with the boys, in a certain sort of way, but the kind of girl who other girls tend to avoid. Aviva is a senior, a "Criss-Crosser" who has friends in lots of cliques, but manages to maintain her own individuality. One after another, each of these three girls, very different on the surface, falls for the same unnamed boy, a popular senior jock. Their experiences with him vary, but have commonalities, too. I think that any adult reader of this book will find occasion to wince here and there, as certain incidents or feelings ring true.

This book is a very frank look at high school politics and relationships. Although it's not a difficult read, I wouldn't recommend it for most middle schoolers, because it is very open concerning teen sex. That said, I do highly recommend it for high schoolers, especially girls. The "bad boy" of the title is good for the girls in the story in part by making them wiser. If readers can gain a little of that wisdom from this book, without having to experience everything that Josie, Nicolette, and Aviva experience, so much the better. I also like the way the characters in this book learn from the one in Judy Blume's Forever, and use the end pages of a copy of Forever to record a manual for other girls:

"some little book where a girl could look up
what to do
what not to do
and who not to do it with"

I read this book quickly, to find out what would happen next, but the verse kept catching me up, and slowing me down. I would stop and shake my head at the aptness of a phrase, or the clever way that the author uses verse to speed up, or slow down, or convey mood. Here's an example:

"How can a person,
any person,
even just a friend,
turn off,
snap---
just
like
that?"

I love the "just, like, that". The very words snap with finality. Another nice thing about the verse form is that it takes us right inside the minds of Josie, Nicolette, and Aviva in a way that a narrative form might not. It seems particularly fitting for this topic, because first love and heartbreak are exactly the kinds of things that teenage girls do write poems about.

A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl is well-written, and almost painfully true to life. It deals with teenage love, sex, and friendship, as well as disillusionment, heartbreak, and joy. Throughout this emotional roller-coaster, the author maintains a tone of gentle humor and sympathy. I look forward to Tanya Lee Stone's next novel.

A slightly longer version of this book review was originally published on my blog, Jen Robinson's Book Page, on July 14th, 2006.

"If would be nice
if there was some manual
some little book where a girl could look up
what to do
what not to do
and who not to do it with."

Every high school seems to have at least one guy who catches the eyes of many girls . . . and proceeds to date as many of them as possible. A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl by Tanya Lee Stone revolves around one such serial dater who may be nice to look at but is a very naughty boyfriend.

The story, told in poems, moves along very quickly. Reluctant readers and poets are likely to pick it up for that reason. The first-person narration is shared by three very different girls: sweet freshman Josie, wild Nicolette, and aspiring guitarist Aviva. Each dates the bad boy; each gets burned. The poetry style alters with each girl. Josie is a thinker, so her poems are full of secret thoughts and hopes. Nicolette is the boldest of the girls, unafraid to go after what she wants, so she says want she feels. Aviva is a self-proclaimed Criss-Crosser, meaning she hangs out with all different groups at school, and her words are straightforward.

It is Josie, the first narrator and the youngest of the three, who decides to warn other girls at her school about the boy. She realizes that she was not the first girl he dated and dissed. She writes an open letter in the school library's copy of Forever by Judy Blume, knowing that her peers will check it out. Instead of performing an act of vengeance, like slashing his tires, she uses a famous book about growing up to empower herself and to spread the word to others. It is always nice to see a book mentioned within another book, if done well, and Forever is the perfect choice for this story.

Due to this book's subject matter and romantic situations, I would recommend it to teens in high school, say ages 15 and up. Like Forever, it will definitely raise eyebrows. Also like Forever, parents will use it to establish an open dialogue with their teenagers, and young women will discuss it with friends.

Girls should realize that they have to respect and love themselves first before trying to find those things in or from someone else. I opened with a quote from the book; I'll close with lyrics by Vanessa Carlton, from her song Rinse:

"But everything happens for reasons that she will never understand
'Til she knows that the heart of a woman will never be found in the arms of a man."

Women all remember the way it started; the butterflies in the pit of your stomach when he looks your way, the breathless rollercoaster rush of wanting...so new and confusing and altogether wonderful. They also remember the way it ended; holding your pillow and sobbing your eyes out, wondering what you did to deserve this. Tanya Lee Stone's poignant story of three girls and one bad boy brings an honest and forthright coming of age story to all parents and teens who want ( and need) to talk about this confusing and magical time of life.

This book is a must share for me as a mom of two boys and a girl. It's so easy for boys to get caught up in the conquest and forget that they are playing with the emotions of very real young women. And girls forget that a smile and whispered words of love are no substitute for their own feelings of worth. This novel celebrates the mystical, bewildering, heart-racing beauty of first love while acknowledging how difficult these encounters can be. Keep this novel on your coffee table and let it open the door for honest conversation with your children.

Written in verse, three girls encounter the same bad boy. Using a library copy of Judy Blume's Forever, all the girls that have been used by this boy leave messages to each other, sharing their experiences.

When I saw all these reviews saying this should be required reading I wasn't so sure about that... After reading this, I think it should be required reading for girls, boys, grownups, parents, everyone! What a powerful piece in such a slim package. I think it's one great life lesson. I hadn't heard of this book until it was mentioned as a giveaway on a blog and I looked into it. It's a shame it isn't more widely recognized.

Though the book teaches a powerful lesson it's still very fun to read. I really enjoyed it. I had never read anything I liked in verse, probably because it was all school related. But this book is very easily digestible. Makes me want to seek out other books in the same format.

Stone's fine first stab at a teen novel, A Bad Boy Can Be Good For A Girl, is an intriguing work - free-verse monologues from a trio of high school girls who've all fallen for, you guessed it, the campus Bad Boy. They all get burned, but learn some valuable lessons along the way about who they are, who they want to become, and what kind of man will make them happy. Then they warn others. Funny, real, sometimes painful. Brought back plenty of teen angst memories.

Do your pre-teen and teenage daughter a favor and buy her this book. Heck, buy it and save it for your younger girls. Josie, Nicolette, and Aviva are very different girls, but they have one thing in common: a boy. Each comes into the relationship with different attitudes, different expectations. Each is used by him, and each learns a lesson about themselves in the process, and they come out the other end stronger and more sure of themselves. You want a book to empower your daughter as she begins her journey into the world of romantic relationships? This is the one.

Roxyanne Young
Editorial Director, SmartWriters.com

A BAD BOY CAN BE GOOD FOR A GIRL by Tanya Lee Stone, Wendy Lamb Books, January 2006, ISBN: 0-385-74702-0, Publisher recommendation: 14 years and up

"the sound of them strong
stalking talking about their prey
like the way hammer meets nail
pounding, they say
pounding out the rhythms of attraction
like a woman was a drum like a body was a weapon
like there was something more they wanted
than the journey
like it was owed to them
steel toed they walk
and I'm wondering why this fear of men"
--Ani Difranco, "The Slant"

Josie:

"In one more second it will be too late.

" 'WAIT!' "

Nicolette:

"Am I a whore because I like sex? Or because I did it
too soon? Or too much? Nobody ever calls boys
whores.

"Why is that?"

Aviva:

"I wouldn't want to go through this again.
But unfortunately, something tells me this stuff is
tricky.
I doubt this is the only mistake I'm going to make.
And I'm not so sure
it was a mistake, anyway.

"I kind of hope he learns something too.
Even if it's only for the sake of the next girl
who comes along.
Or the one after that. Or maybe the one after that!

"He's cute and all, but not what I'd call
a real quick study!

"I laugh out loud.

"And I'm happy for a second, because I still know how
to find the funny.

"I like that about myself."

A BAD BOY CAN BE GOOD FOR A GIRL is the story told from the point of view of these three teens. Each of them has a relationship with the same guy at school. Josie is the wide-eyed freshman, who suddenly feels like a somebody. Nicolette, the junior, really thinks she is in control. And Aviva is the bright senior with the hip and trusting parents. All three think they know what they're getting into.

Some of the lessons that readers might glean from this quick, engaging, and powerful novel in verse include:

1. Look and think (and think again) before leaping into bed.

2. If your female schoolmates are saying and writing uncomplimentary things regarding the character and behavior of a boy, it might be wise to take them seriously.

3. You may think that you are wiser and less vulnerable than these three characters, or the girls you know in real life, but you're not.

A BAD BOY CAN BE GOOD FOR A GIRL will raise some eyebrows for being a book where the only marginally sympathetic male character is someone's father who shows up for a couple of sentences. We meet the athletic young man, the villain of the book who seriously lacks redeeming social values, through the stories that the three girls tell However, he is not one of the narrators.

I've already had a long, animated discussion with my wife about how there are guys are like TL: Are such guys clueless about their behavior or do they consciously develop these strategies to have sex with girls? (I was the one insisting that guys who behave like this are out there. I remember being an adolescent and overhearing guys boasting about being members of the "4F Club.")

Part of what makes Laurie Halse Anderson's beloved and award-winning SPEAK a must-read is its message to watch out for oneself and to be concerned for peers who are clearly troubled. Part of what makes Melvin Burgess' DOING IT such a terrific read is its amusing and sympathetic look at how young men's minds tick.

A BAD BOY CAN BE GOOD FOR A GIRL is a book about teens and sex that will fascinate and enlighten readers. It is a realistic and provocative story that will benefit from being read among groups of friends or along with older siblings so as to prompt discussion about the vital issues involved.